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Photo#50058
Mosquito Larva - Culiseta

Mosquito Larva - Culiseta
Harvard, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA
April 28, 2006
Size: 8mm
This is another stage in development of the larva that looked like a freshwater shrimp.

Images of this individual: tag all
Mosquito Pupa - Culiseta Mosquito Larva - Culiseta

Moved
Moved from Mosquitoes.

Tom
I just realized that your pupa went to larva instead of the other way around. Interesting. But I may have an answer. I wonder if they treat your water with any larvacide?

Anyway, there is a larvacide called methoprene. The main company that manufactures it, manufactures it under the name Altosid. The active ingredient in the larvacide is juvenile hormone. Juvenile hormone is an important hormone that keeps an insect as a 'juvenile' (larva) and then when its production slows down it becomes an adult. So the mosquito control people put this in water so mosquito larvae never become adults. They usually die as pupa. But there is a chance your larva got an extra dose of methoprene and swtiched its phase. Do you know if it died when it became a larva?

long siphon
indicates a culicine larva. and a pair of ventral setae indicates a Culiseta

 
moved
Thanks Omar.

It went from pupa to larva!
now we're really confused!

 
Wierd isn't it?
I don't know the explanation for whatever happened with the transformation.

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